Thermodynamics Analysis and Removal of P in a P-(M)-H2O System

Abstract

In order to efficiently remove phosphorus, thermodynamic equilibrium diagrams of the P-H₂O system and P-M-H₂O system (M stands for Fe, Al, Ca, Mg) were analyzed by software from Visual MINTEQ to identify the existence of phosphorus ions and metal ions as pH ranged from 1 to 14. The results showed that the phosphorus ions existed in the form of H₃PO₄, H₂PO₄^-, HPO₄^2-, and PO₄^3-. Among them, H₂PO₄^- and HPO₄^2- were the main species in the acidic medium (99% at pH = 5) and alkaline medium (97.9% at pH = 10). In the P-Fe-H₂O system ((P) = 0.01 mol/L, (Fe³⁺) = 0.01 mol/L), H₂PO₄^- was transformed to FeHPO₄⁺ at pH = 0-7 due to the existence of Fe³⁺ and then transformed to HPO₄^2- at pH > 6 as the Fe³⁺ was mostly precipitated. In the P-Ca-H₂O system ((P) = 0.01 mol/L, (Ca²⁺) = 0.015 mol/L), the main species in the acidic medium was CaH₂PO₄⁺ and HPO₄^2-, and then transformed to CaPO₄^- at pH > 7. In the P-Mg-H₂O system ((P) = 0.01 mol/L, (Mg²⁺) = 0.015 mol/L), the main species in the acidic medium was H₂PO₄^- and then transformed to MgHPO₄ at pH = 5-10, and finally transformed to MgPO₄^- as pH increased. The verification experiments (precipitation experiments) with single metal ions confirmed that the theoretical analysis could be used to guide the actual experiments.

Keywords: phosphorus; removal; thermodynamics.